This invention relates generally to agricultural planting equipment and more particularly to a disc opener assembly for a seed planter.
The efficient production of crops requires that seed be planted in various and selective manners that depend upon the type of seed, the soil conditions and the location. The seed planter must be capable of opening a seed trench at a selected depth, accurately spacing the seeds apart in the seed trench, covering the seed with an appropriate amount of soil and assuring that the seed is in proper contact with the soil.
To open seed trenches, a typical seed planter includes a plurality of disc openers mounted to an elongated frame. Each disc, as the label implies, includes an essentially flat round or circular member. In at least some cases, discs are mounted to axles which are in turn mounted to the frame for rotation about disc axis. Screws are typically used to mount the discs to the axles.
Existing seed planters utilize various adjustment mechanisms to control the depth of the seed trench. An exemplary adjustment mechanism includes gauge wheels, one wheel mounted adjacent each disc. Here, in at least some cases, in addition to setting disc depth, a gauge wheel may also help maintain an associated disc clean by forcing debris therefrom as the disc and wheel rotate. To accurately set disc depth and to effectively clean an associated disc, a gauge wheel should be mounted as close as possible to an adjacent disc surface.
Often at least a portion of a gauge wheel will be located immediately adjacent the screw heads that mount an associated disc to an axle. To enable gauge wheels to be as close as possible to the disc surfaces, the heads of the screws that mount the discs to the axles can be countersunk so that surfaces thereof are flush with the surfaces of the discs that face the wheels. Over time the opening discs wear appreciably and eventually have to be replaced or sharpened. The discs can be removed by using a screwdriver to unscrew the screws that secure the discs to the axles.
Unfortunately, often the force required to unscrew a disc is relatively large. As generally known, the torque that can be applied using a screwdriver is limited. In addition, as well known, if a screwdriver head is not properly seated within a head receiving recess, the head can slip out of the recess during a loosening motion and the screw head can be stripped or at least partially stripped which further reduces the torque that can be applied to the screw during a next attempt to loosen, In many cases it has been observed that, because of the proximity of the screw heads to field debris and soil, the head receiving recesses in the screws become caked with matter which, if not removed, blocks proper screwdriver head seating.
Thus, it would be advantageous to have a disc-gauge wheel assembly where the components that secure a disc to an axle are easy to manipulate and where the components allow positioning of the gauge wheel immediately adjacent a surface of the disc.